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Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Canes defy expectations, edge Southern Miss to capture first regional since 2016
The third-seeded Miami Hurricanes baseball team has completed its improbable run to their first regional title since 2016. The Hurricanes, who never trailed, held on to defeat host and top-seeded Southern Miss, 5-4, on Monday night. Miami will play at Louisville in the super regional round next weekend, with the winner of that best-of-3 series going to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. As for Monday's win, Hurricanes coach J.D. Arteaga believes Miami may have gotten some help from above. 'I can't help but think there was divine intervention,' Arteaga said. 'It seemed like everything went our way.' That started with Miami's first game in this regional on Friday, a 5-3 win over Alabama. On the final play of that game, Alabama nearly hit a walk-off, three-run homer, but Miami center fielder Michael Torres caught the ball at the fence. Next, fourth-seeded Columbia did Miami a favor, defeating Southern Miss. Miami then beat Columbia, and all the Canes had to do next was defeat Southern Miss once in two tries, which is exactly what happened. On Monday, Miami (34-25) started the scoring with Derek Williams' solo homer in the second inning. Southern Miss tied the score in the fourth on Matthew Russo's RBI single. But the Hurricanes escaped further trouble when Joey Urban — with runners on the corners — bounced into an inning-ending double play. The Golden Eagles challenged the out call at first, but the call stood on a great turn by second baseman Dorian Gonzalez. Miami came right back in the fifth, scoring twice to take a 3-1 lead. With two outs and none on, Michael Torres singled and scored on Jake Ogden's double. Max Galvin followed with an RBI single. The last out of the bottom of the fifth was a 3-4-1 defensive play by Miami as the ball deflected off the glove of first baseman Renzo Gonzalez, but second baseman Dorian Gonzalez — no relation — threw Carson Paetow out from shallow right field. Reliever Will Smith did a great job covering first on the play. That was some of that 'divine intervention' Arteaga referenced in his post-game comments. Miami stretched its lead to 5-1 in the sixth as Dorian Gonzalez hit a solo homer, and Torres beat out a two-out infield hit for an RBI. Southern Miss cut its deficit to 5-2 in the seventh on Tucker Stockman's RBI single to center off of Miami's second reliever of the night, Rob Evans. However, Evans struck out the next batter, Paetow, to end the threat. In the eighth, Evans walked the first two Southern Miss batters, but Brian Walters came in and retired three straight with no damage done. Then, with two outs in the ninth, Paetow hit a two-run homer to the opposite field, closing the Eagles' deficit to 5-4. Walters, however, retired the next batter, Seth Smith, on a routine fly ball to left, ending the game. Miami used four pitchers. Starter Reese Lumpkin allowed just one run in 3 1/3 innings. Will Smith allowed one run in three innings. Evans, who got two outs, allowed one inherited runner to score but he got that big aforementioned strikeout. And Walters earned his 10th save of the season, allowing two runs in two innings. 'That was a big six-out save,' Arteaga said. Now it's on to Louisville, a team Miami has not played this year. Last season, the teams split four games. Louisville took two out of three games at home, but Miami got the Cardinals back at the ACC tournament. Arteaga said he will take his chances with his squad. 'I love this team,' Arteaga said. 'I'm so happy we get to play more baseball.'
Miami Herald
27-02-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
After 8-1 start to season, Miami Hurricanes now get first big test in Florida Gators
The Miami Hurricanes baseball team probably couldn't have envisioned a better start to the season. A roster filled with 28 new faces — 14 freshmen and 14 transfers — has meshed together seamlessly. The pitching has been lights out. The lineup has depth, with most of its main contributors clicking early and the Hurricanes putting up crooked numbers more often than not. All together, it has resulted in an 8-1 start to the season, with the lone blemish a 2-1 midweek loss to Florida Atlantic on Feb. 18. 'We've started off the season great,' said junior second baseman Dorian Gonzalez. 'We're clicking on all sides of the ball.' Will this early success continue as the schedule gets more difficult? We're about to find out. After cruising to big wins in their first two weekend series against Niagara and Princeton, the Hurricanes have their first big test of the season this weekend when they travel to Gainesville to play the Florida Gators, who are undefeated at 9-0 and ranked No. 8 nationally by D1Baseball. 'It's fun,' third baseman Daniel Cuvet said. 'It always gets the adrenaline going and the nerves up. We've got to stay focused, and we've got to pretend like we're facing a faceless opponent. That's kind of the mindset we've got to have.' Miami will enter the series with confidence after its strong start to the season. On the mound, the Hurricanes' pitching staff has combined for a 1.50 ERA and 111 strikeouts over 78 innings. Miami's projected weekend rotation of Nick Robert, Griffin Hugus and Brian Walters has a combined 1.09 ERA with 51 strikeouts against eight walks over 33 innings. At the plate, the Hurricanes are collectively hitting .303 and have scored 86 runs through nine games. six regulars in the lineup are hitting at least .321 in shortstop Jake Ogden (.444), outfielder Max Galvin (.394), catcher Tanner Smith (.370), Gonzalez (.345), designated hitter Bobby Marsh (.333) and Cuvet (.321). Marsh leads the team with 19 RBI, and six of his 10 hits have gone for extra bases. Miami is also a perfect 16 for 16 on stolen bases. 'Right now, everything seems to be working,' Cuvet said. 'We can put guys wherever we want [in the lineup], and we know they're going to hit.' That said, Miami's going to be tested this weekend against the Gators, who have outscored their opponents (weekend series against Air Force and Dayton, plus midweek wins over Jacksonville, Stetson and North Florida) 87-20, have slugged 15 home runs and have seven players with at least 30 plate appearances hitting at least .343. 'Florida is a great program,' Hurricanes coach J.D. Arteaga said. 'It's the type of program that you have to beat to get to you want to be. ... They're very talented and very good and well coached. It's a tough place to play, so it's a great challenge and to me a great opportunity to show the country what we're all about.' For the Hurricanes, that means not putting extra pressure on themselves just because of the magnitude of the series. They want to stick with what has worked and hope the results will show. 'It's just another at bat. It's just another game,' said Galvin, who has safely reached base in all nine games so far this season. 'If they throw a pitch over the plate, it's gonna get hammered.'
